Page 6
Story: Ache For Her
His concern touched me. He’d been the only being alive to see me at my most vulnerable. I’d sworn a long time ago nothing like that would ever happen to me again. It hadn’t and wouldn’t. “You say tomay-to. I say tomah-to.”
Footsteps sounded from his end of the line, echoing off the large estate walls at the castle he’d moved the clan to. Finally, a door shut. “Simon, I’m serious. Are you okay?”
His voice was strained. I looked over at Delilah who still lay asleep on the luxury sofa in the suite I’d rented. To a normal person, this may not have seemed like I was okay, but in actuality, I was feeling alive. More alive than I’d felt in a long time. What could I tell Galen though? That I’d be okay as soon as I finished this thing I felt compelled to do? As soon as I got my revenge on the person who’d ruined my life? He’d told me to take some time, and this was what I was doing with that time. He wouldn’t have stopped me from doing this, but he would’ve wanted me to be smart about it, and sometimes, I just didn’t want to be smart, I wanted to be ruthless. “Yes, I’m fine,” I told him, trying to sound bored. He loved it when I did that.
“Do you need me?”
A surprised laugh tore through me. That was something I hadn’t heard from him since I brought Kayleigh into our lives. “Need you? Aren’t you busy?”
I could hear Galen walking around the room he was in, the floorboards creaking underneath his feet. “Simon, you know I’ll always be there for you. Why Philly? Why now?”
I dribbled my fingers over the armrest. “I’m just looking around. Taking a walk down memory lane as they say.”
“Then I’m going to ask you one more time, do you need me?”
I clamped my mouth shut. Part of me wanted to say I did need him, ask him to come help me do this. It was fitting since he’d saved me from that life that he could also help me get retribution from it, but I also wondered if he really would or if his newly found happiness with Kayleigh had changed him.
“You know you can come back any time,” Galen said. He’d told me that many times already, but I’d been too busy planning and now executing this wonderful plan. “It’s not Kayleigh or you, it’s both of you. You’ll understand one day when you find someone.”
If I had a heart that worked, it would’ve just stopped beating. What the actual fuck? We were vampires. We didn’t just find someone. Since when had Galen Dumont turned into a fucking Hallmark card. I liked the way it was before when we lived for food and sex. That was the life. “We both know that’s not going to happen, Galen. I’m afraid I’m far beyond caring about any of that nonsense.”
He was silent for a few beats, then said, “That’s a shame, Simon, because I think you need it the most.”
My temper flared, and a ripping noise tore through the suite. I looked down to find my nails had gone straight through the arm of the chair. Well, fuck. I was going to have to replace this now. “Spare me the humanity advice, Galen. Yes, you found love. Yes, now you have a partner for life. Have you ever thought that maybe some people don’t want that? I was perfectly happy with the way things were before.”
“I thought I was too.”
My stomach flipped. “Fuck you.”
The line went dead. It was dead so long I thought Galen had hung up. I still pressed the phone to my ear in hope. Finally, Galen breathed out. “You can still have that life here. There are still feeders here, Simon.”
I urged to go back, but it wasn’t the same. To see Galen and Kayleigh with one another was like a blow to my whole existence. Maybe it was exactly like he was getting at. Maybe it was seeing them that made me realize my life was meaningless. But it didn’t matter. It only made me want to go in the complete opposite direction. We were vampires. We were fucking blood-sucking predators, and that was how I intended to live. I didn’t want to see how much Galen had changed every day. “I don’t think I belong there anymore,” I told him truthfully. It was something that was eating away at me that I didn’t want to acknowledge, but there it was now—and it was the truth.
It was like our lives had taken a complete right turn out of nowhere. He’d went down the soft path while the wicked ways still itched at my fingertips. I wanted to sink my fangs into a pretty girl and fuck her until she cried out. I wanted to rip her fucking throat out and lick the blood from her cold skin. I didn’t want to fuck the same girl day in and day out like it was a job. He’d completely given up his feeders. Sure, he still fed from them, but he didn’t fuck them.
That was just completely mind-blowing to me.
“It’s not as if I’m the first vampire in history to have a mate, Simon, for Christ’s sake.”
But he was a Dumont. Dumont’s didn’t do shit like that. Dumont’s conquered the world, made the world bend to their needs instead of the other way around. At least, that’s what he’d always taught me.
“I don’t believe I’ll be back today,” I told him, mimicking what I’d been saying to him the past month.
“Fine,” Galen growled. Then, the line really did go dead.
I squeezed my cell phone so hard the interior started to crack. Immediately, I slammed the phone down on the table next to me. The last thing I needed was to have to replace my phone again. I went through them like a whore went through condoms.
Glancing over at Delilah, I noticed her eyes start to flutter. I sniffed the air, trying to see how much of the concoction still lingered in her system. Not much, which meant she was probably on the verge of waking up soon. I ran to the bedroom and ripped a pillow case from a pillow and ran back to the room. Her limbs were still dead, but her eyes were trying to force themselves open. Quickly, I wrapped her hands behind her back and returned to my seat in the chair across from the couch, waiting.
She moaned. The sound shouldn’t have made my body react, but it did. It was breathy, like how she’d sounded with the vibrator pressed to her pussy. Her eyes blinked rapidly until they lazily opened as if each one weighed a hundred pounds. Her eyes widened as she took everything in. Then, when her gaze landed on me, her cheeks burned red and she struggled to stand.
She didn’t get far. I imagined the heavy dose of sleep additives I’d slipped her made her mind groggy and her limbs heavy. “You,” she choked out.
“Me,” I said smiling, pleased with myself.
I brought the tips of my fingers to my lips in a triangle formation and stared. I waited until she dragged herself into a sitting position, grimacing when she realized her hands were tied behind her. “What the hell do you want with me?” she spat, disgust twisting her features. Dark flyaways haloed her hair. It wasn’t the sleek, straight hair of a goddess from earlier tonight. She looked like she’d been put through the ringer already and I hadn’t even done anything to her yet. Well, besides kidnapping her, I guessed, but I did that shit all the time.
“You, my dear, are leverage.”
Footsteps sounded from his end of the line, echoing off the large estate walls at the castle he’d moved the clan to. Finally, a door shut. “Simon, I’m serious. Are you okay?”
His voice was strained. I looked over at Delilah who still lay asleep on the luxury sofa in the suite I’d rented. To a normal person, this may not have seemed like I was okay, but in actuality, I was feeling alive. More alive than I’d felt in a long time. What could I tell Galen though? That I’d be okay as soon as I finished this thing I felt compelled to do? As soon as I got my revenge on the person who’d ruined my life? He’d told me to take some time, and this was what I was doing with that time. He wouldn’t have stopped me from doing this, but he would’ve wanted me to be smart about it, and sometimes, I just didn’t want to be smart, I wanted to be ruthless. “Yes, I’m fine,” I told him, trying to sound bored. He loved it when I did that.
“Do you need me?”
A surprised laugh tore through me. That was something I hadn’t heard from him since I brought Kayleigh into our lives. “Need you? Aren’t you busy?”
I could hear Galen walking around the room he was in, the floorboards creaking underneath his feet. “Simon, you know I’ll always be there for you. Why Philly? Why now?”
I dribbled my fingers over the armrest. “I’m just looking around. Taking a walk down memory lane as they say.”
“Then I’m going to ask you one more time, do you need me?”
I clamped my mouth shut. Part of me wanted to say I did need him, ask him to come help me do this. It was fitting since he’d saved me from that life that he could also help me get retribution from it, but I also wondered if he really would or if his newly found happiness with Kayleigh had changed him.
“You know you can come back any time,” Galen said. He’d told me that many times already, but I’d been too busy planning and now executing this wonderful plan. “It’s not Kayleigh or you, it’s both of you. You’ll understand one day when you find someone.”
If I had a heart that worked, it would’ve just stopped beating. What the actual fuck? We were vampires. We didn’t just find someone. Since when had Galen Dumont turned into a fucking Hallmark card. I liked the way it was before when we lived for food and sex. That was the life. “We both know that’s not going to happen, Galen. I’m afraid I’m far beyond caring about any of that nonsense.”
He was silent for a few beats, then said, “That’s a shame, Simon, because I think you need it the most.”
My temper flared, and a ripping noise tore through the suite. I looked down to find my nails had gone straight through the arm of the chair. Well, fuck. I was going to have to replace this now. “Spare me the humanity advice, Galen. Yes, you found love. Yes, now you have a partner for life. Have you ever thought that maybe some people don’t want that? I was perfectly happy with the way things were before.”
“I thought I was too.”
My stomach flipped. “Fuck you.”
The line went dead. It was dead so long I thought Galen had hung up. I still pressed the phone to my ear in hope. Finally, Galen breathed out. “You can still have that life here. There are still feeders here, Simon.”
I urged to go back, but it wasn’t the same. To see Galen and Kayleigh with one another was like a blow to my whole existence. Maybe it was exactly like he was getting at. Maybe it was seeing them that made me realize my life was meaningless. But it didn’t matter. It only made me want to go in the complete opposite direction. We were vampires. We were fucking blood-sucking predators, and that was how I intended to live. I didn’t want to see how much Galen had changed every day. “I don’t think I belong there anymore,” I told him truthfully. It was something that was eating away at me that I didn’t want to acknowledge, but there it was now—and it was the truth.
It was like our lives had taken a complete right turn out of nowhere. He’d went down the soft path while the wicked ways still itched at my fingertips. I wanted to sink my fangs into a pretty girl and fuck her until she cried out. I wanted to rip her fucking throat out and lick the blood from her cold skin. I didn’t want to fuck the same girl day in and day out like it was a job. He’d completely given up his feeders. Sure, he still fed from them, but he didn’t fuck them.
That was just completely mind-blowing to me.
“It’s not as if I’m the first vampire in history to have a mate, Simon, for Christ’s sake.”
But he was a Dumont. Dumont’s didn’t do shit like that. Dumont’s conquered the world, made the world bend to their needs instead of the other way around. At least, that’s what he’d always taught me.
“I don’t believe I’ll be back today,” I told him, mimicking what I’d been saying to him the past month.
“Fine,” Galen growled. Then, the line really did go dead.
I squeezed my cell phone so hard the interior started to crack. Immediately, I slammed the phone down on the table next to me. The last thing I needed was to have to replace my phone again. I went through them like a whore went through condoms.
Glancing over at Delilah, I noticed her eyes start to flutter. I sniffed the air, trying to see how much of the concoction still lingered in her system. Not much, which meant she was probably on the verge of waking up soon. I ran to the bedroom and ripped a pillow case from a pillow and ran back to the room. Her limbs were still dead, but her eyes were trying to force themselves open. Quickly, I wrapped her hands behind her back and returned to my seat in the chair across from the couch, waiting.
She moaned. The sound shouldn’t have made my body react, but it did. It was breathy, like how she’d sounded with the vibrator pressed to her pussy. Her eyes blinked rapidly until they lazily opened as if each one weighed a hundred pounds. Her eyes widened as she took everything in. Then, when her gaze landed on me, her cheeks burned red and she struggled to stand.
She didn’t get far. I imagined the heavy dose of sleep additives I’d slipped her made her mind groggy and her limbs heavy. “You,” she choked out.
“Me,” I said smiling, pleased with myself.
I brought the tips of my fingers to my lips in a triangle formation and stared. I waited until she dragged herself into a sitting position, grimacing when she realized her hands were tied behind her. “What the hell do you want with me?” she spat, disgust twisting her features. Dark flyaways haloed her hair. It wasn’t the sleek, straight hair of a goddess from earlier tonight. She looked like she’d been put through the ringer already and I hadn’t even done anything to her yet. Well, besides kidnapping her, I guessed, but I did that shit all the time.
“You, my dear, are leverage.”